College students working as part of the students’ Democracy Summer internship program with voting rights group Democracy North Carolina launched a “For The People” Campaign on Wednesday to call for pro-democracy reforms. (Photo by Aditi Kharod)

On Wednesday morning, a group of summer interns with Democracy NC gathered in front of the legislative building to roll out their “For the People” campaign.

The students encouraged North Carolina citizens to contact their lawmakers in support of a variety of pro-democracy reforms, including flexible early voting, nonpartisan redistricting, and increasing access to voting.

The group specifically called for the repeal of Senate Bill 325, passed in June of 2018, which limits early voting site hours.

“We know that if Early Voting flexibility and access isn’t restored now, alongside the removal of the new strict photo ID requirement to vote, it could mean a ‘recipe for disaster’ for North Carolina voters like me in 2020,” said Gaby Romero, a student at Appalachian State University in Boone. “For voters in rural western North Carolina — from all parties — these attacks shut them out of the most important form of participation in a democracy.”

The college students shared stories from their campuses about how gerrymandering and limits to voting access have hurt young voters, and laid out a multi-part agenda with the goal of lobbying lawmakers to use current proposals to prevent confusion and chaos for voters ahead of next year’s elections.

“We’re here to say that we care about our rights. That we care about the right to vote,” said Tyler Walker, an activist who works with Democracy NC in Winston-Salem. “Any barrier to voting is a threat to your personal freedoms. Any barrier to voting is a threat to you directly. It is a threat to your civil rights. It is a threat to your human rights. It is a threat to your ability to exercise your right to vote, to exercise the freedoms you believe in. It is a threat. And I’m here to tell the legislature today that we will not be threatened.”